Thinking Out Loud About the PlayStation Phone

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A few days ago, images of an early PlayStation Phone prototype hit the Internet. Sony hasn’t necessarily denied its existence either, with some thinly-veiled remarks in regards to the matter. While it shouldn’t be a surprise that this thing exists at all, it does come as a surprise that it’s taken this long for Sony to create a PlayStation Phone in the first place.

Based on the information out there, it looks like the phone is built off of the PSP Go body. It adds a cell phone to the body and removes the analog nub. The articles I linked to above also mention that the phone is built off of PSP 1 tech and that Sony wants to offer mobile gamers a deeper gameplay experience. Also mentioned on the Weekend Confirmed podcast was that this phone supposedly runs on Android 3.0.

While I think Sony has no choice but to at least give the cellphone gaming thing a shot, my gut says they might already be too late.

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That Kinect Thing is Out Today

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Even though I’m a video game news junkie, the launch of the Kinect totally slipped my mind until just now. Microsoft’s entry into the motion control market are sitting on store shelves as you read this. I love buying the latest and greatest when it comes to video game stuff, but I’m sitting this launch out. Considering the fact that this product is backed by a $500 million marketing campaign, Microsoft is hoping I’m in the minority on this one.

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Top 5 In Third Person Posts: October 2010 Edition

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October 2010 was another monumental month for In Third Person. Despite not being featured on the WordPress.com home page this month, traffic to In Third Person in October still surpassed the September 2010 figures by a wide margin. What I find most crazy is that In Third Person has a new most viewed post of all-time, and it didn’t need to be featured on the WordPress.com homepage to reach that milestone.

Without further ado, here are the top 5 In Third Person posts of October 2010.

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Game Length and Adulthood

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A few months ago, I picked up Okami for the Wii. I heard a lot of great things about the game and was looking forward to playing it. I played it for a bit, but not really enough to get a feel for the game. Before I could even give the game a fair shake, I traded it away.

Why? For one, I heard that EBGames was giving out extra credit on this game. Second (and more more importantly), I heard the game was roughly 40 hours long. In my younger days, that meant I could expect good times for a long time to come. As an adult with responsibilities, playing through a 40-hour game is a tough thought to swallow.

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Pick Up Post: Peggle Nights

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I’m not sure if I’ve said this on my blog before, but I’ve said it aloud many times to anyone that talks to me about iPhone games: I love Peggle. If you have not played Pop Cap’s digital version of cocaine, you are missing out on one of the most fun games in the last few years. I admit to being late to this party, too, since I didn’t buy a version of Peggle until it hit the iTunes store. By then, the sequel, Peggle Nights, was already available on PC and Mac. For us iPhone Peggle addicts, we’ve been waiting for over a year for the sequel to hit the iTunes store.

A few weeks ago, it did, along with a patch that for me, made both games worse.
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Why PS3 Software Updates Suck

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I picked up Killzone 2 about a month ago, alongside Infamous and Resistance 2. I’ve been occupied with other games, but I recently tried to give this game a go. As per usual, the system required me to update the software if I wanted to play it online. As per usual, the process was slow, horrible, and didn’t actually work until after 20 failed attempts.

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Early Impression of Rock Band 3

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Earlier this week, my brother and I picked up a copy of Rock Band 3 alongside a Rock Band 3 keyboard. In the past, Rock Band launches have been monumental to us. For the first game, we pre-ordered our bundle four months in advance and were at the store just as the courier dropped of the shipment of Rock Band bundles. For the sequel, we lined up at a Walmart before midnight to get the game as soon as possible.

For the third? I kind of just went to the store and picked stuff up. I can’t speak for my brother, but my interest has waned dramatically in the genre. However, Harmonix is one of my favourite developers, Rock Band is one of my favourite game series and I get the impression that they’re trying to make this the ultimate music game.

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Final Thoughts: God of War Review

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After one weekend of grinding through and a number of days slowly chipping away at it, I have completed God of War. Yes, I’m years late to the party, but I’m glad to have caught up. Before I start working my way through God of War II and III though, I just wanted to document my experiences going through the final portions of the game. If you’d like to see my earlier impressions of God of War, check out my previous posts.
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The Unfortunate State of the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console

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For those with a jones for retro gaming, the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console was supposed to be a dream come true. It was supposed to be the home of every old Nintendo game you could ask for. As time passed, the Virtual Console grew to include the Sega Genesis, TurboGrafx-16, Sega Master System, Commodore 64 and arcade games. It’s been almost 5 years since the launch of Virtual Console, and we as consumers have access to over 300 games.

On the surface, that sounds decent. I’ve been able to buy a few favourites, try older games I’ve never played before and even grab a Japanese import game that never came out here (in my case, the very awesome Sin and Punishment). However, that number isn’t even close to representing the full catalogue of platforms represented in Virtual Console. Between the NES, SNES, SMS, Genesis, TG16, N64 and Neo Geo, the Virtual console has only made 10% of their combined catalogue available to consumers. It’s only going to get worse, as the once weekly updates have slowed to once a month, if we’re lucky.

What started out as an amazing idea is fizzling fast. How did Nintendo screw up what should have been a sure-fire win?

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Game Dev Story Review

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(Buy it on iTunes)

Positive word-of mouth for Game Dev Story spread quickly on gaming websites, blogs, message boards and podcasts. Based on purpose alone, that shouldn’t be a surprise. Game Dev Story is the ultimate gaming-enthusiast game. It’s a game about running every aspect of a video game company. Want to hire a pro producer? You can do that. Think you need booth babes for the upcoming Gamedex game convention? You can do that. Want to develop on that hot new PlayStatus 2 but don’t have the capital to buy a licensing agreement? You’ll have to deal with that, too.

Having dropped way too many hours into this game in a short amount of time, I know for sure why this game has built up such a buzz for itself. It’s the game for game enthusiasts. It’s a game about the games you play, the stories you read about on websites and blogs and the discussions you have on message boards. When I picked this up, I could not put it down. If you’re just looking for a fun ‘Tycoon’ style game to play, this is right up your alley, too.

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